Gurgaon’s Top Physiotherapist Dr. Saed Varis, says, because of aging, or due to a serious injury, certain individuals might start suffering from joint issues that restrict them from performing daily activities. One of the most common among them is knee osteoarthritis, which is an outcome of old age. Other knee diseases caused due to inflammation and injury are rheumatoid arthritis and post-traumatic arthritis, respectively. Serious knee diseases make normal activities such as walking, sitting, climbing stairs, lifting heavy objects, or standing for a prolonged duration of time very difficult. If medicines are not able to show significant improvement in the knees, then the patients are suggested to go for a total knee replacement surgery (TKR). It is advisable to go for this surgery surrounding circumstances that involve:
Top physiotherapist for knee replacement Dr. Varis says, total knee replacement, or knee arthroplasty, involves a surgical procedure to completely remove the damaged or ruptured part of your knee and replace it with an artificial joint made of metal and plastic. This is done with the aim of relieving pain and disability, while also treating leg deformity. This surgery has a high success rate, even though the recovery greatly needs physiotherapy until the patient becomes comfortable with performing daily activities.
To make sure an easy healing and adjusting process, it is recommended to follow the protocol of post-TKR physiotherapy. The postoperative exercises are instructed by Dr. Varis in a systematic manner according to your level of intensity and the condition of your health.
Surprisingly, you can begin exercising mildly merely a couple of days after your surgery. These exercises let blood circulation enhance in the limbs so that blood clotting does not happen and hinders the healing procedure. Quadricep sets are done by tightening and holding your thigh muscles for a short duration of time. Another simple exercise is straight leg raise which lets your leg be raised to a little height and held for a few seconds prior to releasing and repeating. Then you gradually move to knee-bending exercises that help you get comfortable with the new knee. Besides, knee-pumping and buttock-squeezing exercises meant for boosting blood circulation, you are also assisted by the physiotherapist in sitting up, doing knee-bending exercises while sitting, and getting out of bed. Post achieving that, you are helped in standing up, and then walking. A walker is generally provided to you for support in walking, and at times it is fitted with wheels.
As you learn to stand and walk on a crutch, depending on your health condition, you will be either discharged or sent for rehabilitation. As walking becomes easier, walkers will be replaced by crutches, and walking distances are increased. You then learn to tolerate the bearable amount of weight on your legs, which slowly increases through practice and time. When you learn to balance your body weight properly on the operated knee(s), your physical activity gets more intense as activities such as, climbing and descending the stairs, are taught. Since it needs applying pressure on the knees, the steps are taken quite slowly, and with the assistance of a hand or two. As your knees get stronger, exercises get heavier and the operated knee is made familiar with the force and pressure applied by you, such as assisted knee bends, knee bends with resistance, etc.
Once you have been adjusted to the needs of daily life and get acclimatized with the ways to work with the replaced knee(s), you would be advised by the physiotherapist to go back to performing everyday life activities such as driving a car, lifting heavy objects, etc. At times pain might arise because of several medical reasons, but that should not discourage you from remaining physically active. Certain, activities that involve intense physical movement such as running, skiing, and playing sports that involve jumping must be avoided. In the end, you must remember that recovery is a process that varies from individual to individual depending upon their physical health and metabolism, but you must learn to strike a balance between rest and activity to avoid over-exertion of your knees.